Save 20 percent on costumes at Spirit Halloween shops

Empty stores in malls and strip shopping centers are being haunted by new tenants for Halloween.

Spirit Halloween is catering to costume-seeking consumers with 15 temporary pop-up shops in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. The New Jersey-based chain, a sister company of Spencer’s gag gifts, carries thousands of costumes, spooky decor, scary animatronics and fun gag gifts. There are 80 stores in Florida, of 1,300 locations temporarily open around the country.

The seasonal chain has plenty of retail space to choose from after a record number of retailers — such as Alfred Angelo, Payless, The Limited and at least a dozen others — have gone belly up this year. Toys “R” Us may soon make a trip to the graveyard, too.

Spirit Halloween rents space and starts setting up stores in late July. It takes weeks of work because the chain constructs elaborate, screaming and talking animatronic displays that rival those at a theme park. It’s fun to discover eerie surprises at every turn. Stores can employ up to 20 temporary employees, depending on sales volume, according to the company.

“It’s hard work getting things up and running, but it’s the most fun job I’ve ever had,” says Wendy Costa, manager at the Fort Lauderdale store, which occupies the normally vacant former home of the Office Depot at 3935 N. Federal Highway.

Action hero and superhero costumes, Disney characters and animals are top picks for kids, according to the National Retail Federation.

At Spirit Halloween in Fort Lauderdale, clowns were the talk of the store thanks to news about the recently unmasked Wellington clown murder and other creepy stories unfolding internationally. On a shelf, I noticed a Clown in the Closet, a creepy twist on the Christmas Elf on the Shelf, could be your new family tradition. Think of the years of fun you could have taking turns hiding and finding this ugly $27 doll in odd spots around the house, as his flashing eyes and evil laugh mock you.

Spirit Halloween says the most popular costumes flying out of its stores include get-ups for Wonder Woman and characters from the Emmy-winning Netflix show “Stranger Things.” There are even President Trump masks (rolls of paper towels to launch at hurricane victims in Puerto Rico are an optional accessory).

“I want to be scary this year,” says Hudson Hall, of Pompano Beach. He’s dressing up as Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Stephens King’s thriller “It,” which is in theaters now. The mask retails for $29.99.

“I’m going to scare my best friend and all the little kids,” he says (at the ripe old age of 10). Little sister, Ava, 7, is going trick-or-treating as Uma from Disney’s “Descendants” movie. Mom Jennifer ordered the costume months ago from Spirit’s online store, and it’s scheduled to arrive next week.

Let’s not forget those furry babies: 10 percent of consumers will humiliate their pets, dressing them as pumpkins, hot dogs and pirates. Nearly 41 million unimaginative adults will dress as Batman, animals, witches, wenches and pirates, with sexpot looks on many ladies’ lists.

More than 179 million Americans plan to dress up and party this year, up from 171 million last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Spending also is predicted to reach a record high, with households forking over about $86 each, or an astounding $9.1 billion collectively, up from $8.4 billion in 2016.

That’s a lot of candy and costumes.

I’m going to put my costume together the old-fashioned way by scouring Good Will, The Salvation Army and other thrift stores.